Democracy?

After the shootings in Virginia, I have heard a lot said about “toning down the rhetoric,” as if that was what caused the shooting to occur. I think that the partisan rhetoric is simply a symptom of something much deeper. In a democracy, the people consent to be governed on condition that the government has legitimacy, but it is this very legitimacy that is at issue. Citizens United, Russian interference, unrestrained gerrymandering, voter suppression, all of these have taken a toll on the legitimacy of government, and are leading us to a state of crisis. If the people cannot trust that elections are free and fair, then we no longer have a democracy.

Alan Jackson, Houston